Trousers



Jan. 25; 1938. s ADAMSQN 2,106,334

v Tnoussks I Filed May 16, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

M J ()[7/6 AMA/my- BY ATTORNEY.

Jan. 25, 1938.. v s. AIDAMEJON TROUSERS 7 Filed May 16, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WM m WM. A

Patented Jan. 25, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TROUSERS Application May 18, 1935, Serial No. 21,828

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in the construction of the waist embracing portion of trousers.

It is now customary to employ either a belt or suspenders to hold trousers up in place about the waist of the-wearer.

One object of the present invention is to construct the waist embracing portion 01 trousers so that this portion will conform better to the anatomy of the wearer above the hips, and remain comfortably in place without requiring either a belt or suspenders to hold the trousers up.

Another object is to provide the waist embracing portion of the trousers with a frusto-conical shape to better conform to the tapered contour of that portion of the human body lying between the top of the hip bones and the lowest ribs.

Another object is to construct both the waist band portion of the trousers and the strip of stifiening material secured to the inner face thereof of elastic material adapted to yieldingly grip the body of the wearer to hold the trousers up and at the same time provide a comfortable fit that will readily accommodate muscular movement at the waist line.

A further object is to construct the waist band portion of the trousers of elastic material having secured thereto a combined waist band stiffening element and lining in" the form of a single thickness strip, to thereby avoid the use of both a canvas lining strip and curtain at the inner face of trousers as has been customary heretofore.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide the waist band portion of the trousers ioned strip of elastic webbing that has an armate curvature in the direction of its length and is adapted to assume a frusto-conical shape when placed about the body of a person.

40 The above and other objects of the invention will be more fully understood when read in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating one good practical form thereof.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the upper portion of a pair of trousers constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a face view of a strip of elastic fabric fashioned with a lengthwise curvature;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l, the fly of the trousers being open to show the inner face of the trousers;

Fig. 4 on a larger scale is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

5 Fig. 5 is a front perspective view showing the with a stiffening element consisting of a fashtrousers of Fig. 1 as being worn, the contour of the body of the wearer being indicated in dotand-dash lines, and

Fig. 6 is a view of a modification of the construction shown in Fig. 2. 5 The present invention is applicable to various forms of trousers of the .full length or knicker type and is concerned only with the upper or waist embracing portion of the trousers, but it is particularly well adapted for use in connection 10 with trousers which are made of a one-way stretch woven fabric having small elastic threads placed at intervals in the weave to impart a small amount of stretch to the fabric in the body and leg encircling direction.

-Referring to the drawings, a pair of trousers l0 of conventional appearance is illustrated as having the waist embracing portion thereof constructed in accordance with the present invention. The outer waist band portion II in the 2 construction shown is formed of a separate piece of material from the main portion of the trousers l0 andthe portions l0 and II are secured to gether by the stitching l2 as is usual. However. if desired the portions Hi and II of the trousers may be formed as an integral unit, as is fre quently done in the conventional type of trouser...

The present invention contemplates that the waist band portion I I instead of having the usual cylindrical shape when embracing the body of the wearer, shall have the frusto-conical shape clearly shown in Fig. 5 to thereby better conform to the tapered contour of the portion of the body of the wearer above the hips.

The human body of the average male adult is so formed that there is a space of approximately three inches between the top of the hip bone a: and the end of the lowest rib y which is not protected by any bone structure. In this space are found thick muscular layers strengthened by an sheets of fibrous tissue. The waist to of the average male adult who is not over normal weighttapers inwardly slightly from adjacent the hip bones to a point adjacent the lower ends'of the ribs 1 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5, and by giving the waist embracing portion of the trousers the frusto-conical shape shown they will better conform to the contour of thewaist of the average person and will remain up in place better.

Since, as above stated, there is a space of ap- 50.

proximately three inches between the top of the hip bone at and end of the rib y that is not protected by bone but is provided with thick muscular layers, it is proposed to utilize practically this entire space to support the weight of the trousers, and to this end the waist band portion II and inner waist band stiffening ll, to be described, are each made considerably wider than the waist band portion and waist band stiifening element commonly employed heretofore.

The waist embracing portion of trousers as commonly constructed heretofore has been provided with a stiifening fabric of canvas or buckram secured to the inner face of the trouser forming material, and over the stlifening element has been sewed a curtain of lining material. The cutting of these two strips and securing them together and then in place in the trousers involves considerable work and expense.

One object of the present invention therefore, is to provide a single elastic strip II that will take the place of the waist band stiifening element and curtain employed heretofore, and since the waist embracing portion of the trousers in accordance with the present invention is given a frusto-conical shape, it is important that the elastic strip ltwhich serves as a combined stiffening strip and lining shall have a similar frustoconical shape.

This is accomplished in accordance with the present invention by fashioning the stiffening strip l3 so that it has the arcuate curvature best shown in Fig. 2. The desired curvature may be imparted to the strip ll as it is woven by employing elastic warps ll the tension of which gradually increases in the direction of greatest curvature. That is, the warps ll under the greatest tension will lie at the upper curved edge of the strip l3 and those under the least tension will lie near the lower curved edge. The elastic warps ll are preferably omitted from a narrow marginal portion I! along the lower edge of the strip It so that binding stitches passed through this portion l5 will not injure any elastic warps. When the cin'ved stiffening strip it is placed around the body of the wearer its lower edge will obviously form a circle of greater diameter than its upper edge and this will cause the strip to assume the form of a frustrum of a cone which is desired.

The elastic stiffening strip I3 is preferably long enough to reach around the inner face of the waist band portion H and its upper edge is sewed to the upper edge of the portion ll preferably by a folded-in scam I 6, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The lower edge of the strip I! does not need to be sewed to the fabric II or II but the rear pockets I! may be sewed to the lower edge portion ii of this strip as at I, tosupport the pockets from this strip and the strip may be secured to the rear seam portion of the trousers at I. The ends of the strip It may be secured to the front portion of the trousers adjacent the fly flaps at II, and the fly It may have the usual buttons 22.

It will be seen from the foregoing that by employing the single stiifening strip I! of elastic material in place of the curtain and stiffening strip used heretofore, considerable saving in work and material is secured and a very simple and satisfactory construction is provided.

The strip l3, waist band portion II and trousers forming material II are all preferably formed of a one-way-stretch elastic fabric adapted to yield in the body encircling direction, and by making the portion H and strip l3 elastic; that is of fabrics employing elastic threads in their construction, they will not only contract and expand to embrace the body of the wearer snugly and comfortably, but will also contract and expand together so that neither one will cause the other to pucker. While it is desirable that the fabric l I, as well as the parts If and I! shall be elastic, this is not essential, forv since the lower edge of the strip l3 stretches less than its upper edge, fairly satisfactory results can-be obtained by securing the lower edge of the elastic portion II and points along the lower edge of the elastic strip I3 to an inelastic fabric ll.

The waistband portion II and strip II are preferably made approximately two and one-half inches wide to rest upon substantially the entire portion of the waist between the hip bones and ribs. This may increase the height of the trousers slightly over those now in general use. A distinctive feature of the present invention results from the frusto-conical shape given the upper portion of the trousers and is illustrated in Fig. l in which the top of the folded trousers forms a distinct arc of a circle. This is caused by flattening out the frusto-conical portion of the trousers.

The employment of an elastic waist band portion l3 having an inherent lengthwise curvature imparted thereto by weaving the elastic warps M in the fabric under gradually increasing tension, as above described, not only materially improves the fit of the trousers around the waist, but has the further important result of permitting a substantial stretch at the upper edge of the trousers and a much shorter stretch at the lower edge of the waist band portion. In this manner an elastic waist band stiffening element or portion I3 is secured which will not cause the fabric of the trousers to pucker adjacent the lower edge or said portion l3. 7

It may be desirable, in many cases, to provide theelasticstiflening strip l3 withbothanupper and lower edge portion from which the clastic warps are omitted. A modified construction is therefore shown in Fig. 8 in which the elastic stiffening strip Ila has a lower marginal portion 23 and upper marginal portion 24 from which the elastic warps are omitted. As a result of this modified construction the upper inelastic portion 24 will receive the stitches l6 and the lower inelastic portion 23 will receive the stitches II, so that the needle inserting these stitches will not strike any elastic warns. When the construction jmt described is employed it may be desirable to provide one elastic warp thread at the selvage edge of the portions 28 and 24, since in most cases the sewing stitches are not placed close enough to the edge to strike these selvage warps and they impart a contractlve action to the inelastic portions and II.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that trousers constructed in accordance with the present invention will flt the waist of the wearer neatly and snugly throughout a wider area than ordinary trousers, and that the frusto-conical shape given the waist portion of the trousers and contractive force of the elastic strip l3 will both contribute to the support of the trousers so that the wearer will not need either a belt or suspenders to hold them up. Furthermore the wide, snug fitting waist portion of the trousers and elastic action of the waist band will constitute a substantial abdominal support for the wearer.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. Trousers constituting an outer garment havinganouterwaistbandportionadaptedto stretch in the body encircling direction, an elastic waist band stifiening element having its upper edge secured to the upper edge of said outer waist band portion and comprising a woven elastic strip secured at the inner face of said outer waist band portion and provided with elastic warps woven under gradually increasing tension to impart a lengthwise curvature to the strip and a greater stretch to the upper edge of said strip than to its lower edge, to thereby provide a maximum range of stretch at the upper edge of the trousers and a smaller range of stretch at the lower edge of the waist band of the, trousers whereby puckering of the trouser fabric is avoided.

2. Trousers constituting an outer garment having a waist area of frusto-conical shape and formed of an outer waist band portion adapted to stretch in the body encircling direction, an elastic waist band stiffening element having its upper edge secured to the upper edge of said outer waist band portion and comprising a woven elastic strip secured at the inner face of said outer waist band portion and provided with elastic warps woven under gradually increasing tension to impart to the strip an inherent lengthwise curvature that causes it to take the form of an arc of a circle when the strip lies --flat and the form of a frustrum of a cone when placed in the body encircling position, and said strip being adapted to impart to the waist area of the trousers a smooth frusto-conical shape and a stretch that increases upwardly from the lower to the upper edge of the strip whereby puckerlng of the trouser fabric is avoided.

3. Trousers constituting an outer garment having a waist area of frusto-conical shape and provided at said area with an elastic waist band stifiening element comprising a woven elastic strip extending substantially entirely around the waist of the trousers and having elastic warps woven under gradually increasing tension to impart to the strip an inherent lengthwise curvature that causes it to take the form of an arc, of a circle when the strip lies flat and the form of a Irustrum of a cone when placed in the body encircling position, and said strip being adapted to impart to said waist area a smooth frustoconical shape and a stretch that gradually decreases from the upper edge of said strip downwardly towards its lower edge whereby puckering of the trouser fabric is avoided.

SETH ADAMSON. 

